True and False Theologians

What we call “theology” is a work in progress. It is not a fixed body of knowledge that can never grow or develop; it continues to expand as our relationship with God deepens. At the same time, it does not change, because God does not change. Theologians may have to express themselves in new ways when challenged by fresh discoveries that raise questions our ancestors never dreamed of. We may have to adapt our language to different circumstances and present the age-old message of Christ in ways previously unknown. 
Many theologians are goats, who relish these opportunities and use them to take the church away from its foundations. This has given theology a bad name in many circles. But these are false teachers who must be exposed and avoided. 
True theologians are sheep who hear their Shepherd’s voice and interpret His words for the benefit of the rest of the flock. In this task, theology will continue until the time comes when it will no longer be needed. When that happens we shall know all things, and be enfolded forever in the unchanging and all-encompassing love of God.

Gerald Bray, God is Love : A Biblical and Systematic Theology, Crossway, 2012, pg. 27

Unceasing Thanks

So I’ll never stop giving thanks to my God, who kept me faithful in the time of my temptation. I can today with confidence offer my soul to Christ my Lord as a living sacrifice. 

He is the one who defended me in all my difficulties. I can say: Who am I, Lord, or what is my calling, that you have worked with me with such divine presence? This is how I come to praise and magnify Your name among the nations all the time, wherever I am, not only in good times but in the difficult times too. Whatever comes about for me, good or bad, I ought to accept them equally and give thanks to God. 

He has shown me that I can put my faith in Him without wavering and without end. However ignorant I am, He has heard me, so that in these late days I can dare to undertake such a holy and wonderful work.  

- Patrick of Ireland (390-461), Confessio, Paragraph 34

Encouragement for the Believer

God loves you now. 

Right now. 

He doesn’t love some future version of you that tries harder, is more obedient, that pays him back for your sins, or that proves that you deserve love. 

While you were a sinner He died for you because He loved you, and He still loves you now.

 

Justin & Lindsey Holcomb, Rid of My Disgrace: Hope and Healing for Victims of Sexual Assault, Crossway Publishers, 2011, pg. 117

How Did Jesus Defeat the Devil?

“Christ came into the world to destroy the works of the devil. And this was the very thing that did it, the blood and death of Christ. The cross was the devil’s own weapon; and with this weapon he was overthrown, as David cut off Goliath’s head with his own sword.”

-Jonathan Edwards 

via Trevin Wax

Why did Jesus Curse the Fig Tree?

Remember at the time of the sin of Adam and Eve they clothed themselves- with what? Fig leaves. That was their first act after the fall. 

So now Jesus is making the same figure of the fig tree the very last of His wondrous signs. Just as He was headed toward the cross, He cursed a fig tree – not every fig tree, but that one alone for its symbolic significance – saying: “May no one ever eat fruit of you again.” 

In this way the curse laid upon Adam and Eve was bring reversed. For they had clothed themselves with fig leaves. 

Cyril of Jerusalem (313-386)

Chatechital Lectures

Who is Jesus and What has He Done?

God has given His final revelation in His Son (1:1-2a). The seven affirmations that immediately follow in the introduction to Hebrews bring out the greatness of the Son and show why the revelation in Him is the highest God can give (vv. 2b-4): He is the heir of everything and the mediator of creation, the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, and so is uniquely qualified to be the final manifestation of God, for He is identified with God Himself. He has accomplished something that no one else could achieve, the purification of sins which occurred in His once-for-all death on the cross (7:27;10:12,12:2). Having completed the work of atonement, the Son has been exalted and enthroned in the place of honour, at the right hand of God. He is the divine Son who learned obedience by what He suffered and, once made perfect, became the author of eternal salvation for all who obey Him (5:5,8). Is it any wonder, then, that Jesus, the great High Priest who has passed through the heavens is triumphantly identified as ‘the Son of God’ in the confession of faith by believers (4:14-16)?

 

Peter T. O’Brien, The Letter to the Hebrews, Apollos Press, Nottingham, 2010 Pg. 377

(artwork can be purchased here.)  

The Weakness and Strength of Jesus Christ

As a man He was baptized, but He absolved sins as God; He needed no purifying rites Himself - His purpose was to hallow water. 

As a man He was put to the test, but as God He came through victorious - yes, bids us be of good cheer, because He has conquered the world. 

He hungered - yet He fed thousands. He is indeed “living, heavenly bread.” 

He thirsted - yet He exclaimed: “Whoever thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” Indeed He promised that believers would become fountains. 

He was tired - yet He is the “rest” of the weary and burdened. He was overcome by heavy sleep - yet He lightly over the sea, rebukes winds, and relieves the drowning Peter. 

He pays tax - yet He used a fish to do it; indeed He is Emperor over those who demand the tax. 

He is called a “Samaritan, demonically possessed” - but He rescues the man who came down from Jerusalem and fell among the thieves. 

Yes, He is recognized by demons, drives out demons, drowns deep a legion of spirits, and sees the prince of demons falling like lightning. 

He is stoned, yet not hit; 

He prays, yet He hears prayer. 

He weeps, yet He puts an end to weeping. 

He asks where Lazarus is laid - He was man; yet He raises Lazarus - He was God. 

He is sold, and cheap was the price - thirty pieces of silver, yet He buys back the world at the mighty cost of His own blood. 

A sheep, He is led to the slaughter - yet He shepherds Israel and now the whole world as well. 

A lamb, He is dumb - yet He is “the Word,” proclaimed by “the voice of one crying in the wilderness.” 

He is weakened, wounded - yet He cures every disease and every weakness. 

He is brought up to the tree and nailed to it - yet by the tree He restores us. Yes, He saves even a thief crucified with Him; he wraps all the visible world in darkness. He is given vinegar to drink, gall to eat - and who is He? Why, One who turned water into wine, who took away the taste of bitterness, who is all sweetness and desire. 

He surrenders His life, yet He has power to take it up again. Yes, the veil is rent, for things of heaven are being revealed, rocks split, and dead men have an earlier awakening. 

He dies, but He vivifies and by death, He destroys death. 

He is buried, yet He rises again. 

He goes down to Hades, yet He leads souls up, ascends to heaven, and will come to judge the quick and the dead, and to probe discussions like these. 

If the first set of expressions starts you going astray, the second set takes your error away.

Gregory of Nazianzus (329-389), 
On God and Christ, 
St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2002 pg. 87-88

Happy Christmas

Man’s maker was made man,
that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother’s breast;
that the Bread might hunger,
the Fountain thirst,
the Light sleep,
the Way be tired on its journey;
that the Truth might be accused of false witness,
the Teacher be beaten with whips,
the Foundation be suspended on wood;
that Strength might grow weak;
that the Healer might be wounded;
that Life might die.

- Augustine of Hippo (Sermons 191.1)

Why is God merciful to Jacob?

The reader of the life of Jacob might be perplexed at this point. In no episode throughout the life of Jacob does he ever emerge as the hero. He has never behaved as a moral paragon; instead he continually acted in foolish, devious, or even vicious ways. He didn’t seem to deserve any blessing from God at all. Why, if God is holy and just, was He so gracious to Jacob? Why would God feign weakness to keep from killing him? Then give him clues as to who He was, then bless him for no better reason than that he held on desperately?
The answer to our question comes later in the Bible, when the Lord again appeared as a man. In the darkness with Jacob, God feigned weakness in order to save Jacob’s life. But in the darkness of Calvary, the Lord appeared as a man and became truly weak to save us. Jacob held on in obedience at the risk of his life, in order to gain blessing for himself. But when facing the Cross, though He could have turned aside, Jesus held on at the cost of His life, in order to gain the blessing, not for Himself, but for us.
 

Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods, Dutton, 2009, pg. 162

First Washing, Then Worship

Through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name. - Hebrews 13:15

The words translated “sacrifice of praise” occur in the LXX of Leviticus 7:12 and speak of the highest form of peace offering under the old covenant. This thank offering was  voluntary offering and could only be made after the expiatory offerings had been presented and the worshiper was ritually clean; it’s primary purpose was to express gratitude to God.


George Guthrie, Hebrews NIV Application commentary, Zondervan 1998, page 449

Ancient Thoughts on Joshua 2

Is God ever lonely?

The doctrine of the Trinity expels unworthy ideas about the perfection of Godʼs life. It is unworthy to think that God without us is lonely or bored. God is not looking for something to do in the happy land of the Trinity. God did not created the world in order to fill the drafty mansion of heaven with the pitter-patter of little feet. God is not pining away for companionship in a lonesome heaven. [We should] always reject the idea of divine loneliness or boredom. But as soon as you entertain the truth of the doctrine of the ontological Trinity, the unworthiness of the idea of a lonely or bored God becomes patently obvious. 
The Triune God is one, but not solitary. 
Nothing that God does in creation or redemption is done because God lacked employment or occupation. The incarnation of the Son of God was not undertaken as an excellent adventure to provide diversion from the dullness of being the eternal Son. All these are ideas are unworthy of God, as the doctrine of the Trinity makes obvious...The tri-personal love of God is not a love that needs any completion. Consequently we should avoid presenting the gospel in a way that suggests God is begging us to come back home so He can finally be happy again, as if our redemption repairs a breach that ruptured the blessedness of God. 

- The Deep Things of God; How the Trinity Changes Everything, Fred Sanders, Crossway, Wheaton Illinois 2010 pg. 95-96

How does Jesus see the church?

On earth she is often in rags and tatters, stained and ugly, despised and persecuted. But one day she will be seen for what she is, nothing less than the bride of Christ, “free from spots, wrinkles or any disfigurement,” holy and without blemish, beautiful and glorious. It is to this constructive end that Christ has been working and is continuing to work. The bride does not make herself presentable; it is the Bridegroom who labours to beautify her in order to present her to Himself.
        -John Stott, as quoted by Josh Harris, Why Church Matters, Multnomah, 2011 pg. 31

God inspires, God enables.

While God’s glory inspires obedience, it is empowered by His grace. Isaiah was right to be afraid to be in the presence of God. But God in His grace cleansed him of his sin so that he could respond to God’s call. God not only inspires us through His glory, He also gives us the ability to respond through His grace. This is the beauty of the atoning work of Jesus on the cross. We have been reconciled so that we can image Him to the world, and He sends us the Holy Spirit to empower us to such a life.

Brad House, Community, Crossway 2011, pg. 39

How has the gospel of the knowledge of God spread throughout the world?

 

Altars of idols have been overthrown. Knowledge of God has been implanted. The consubstantial Trinity, the uncreated Godhead is worshipped, one true God, Creator and Lord of all. Virtue is practiced. Hope of the resurrection has been granted through the resurrection of Christ. The demons tremble at the men who were formerly in their power. Yes, and most wonderful of all is that all these things were successfully brought about through a cross and suffering and death. The Gospel of the knowledge of God has been preached to the whole world and has put the adversaries to flight not by war and arms and camps. Rather, it was a few unarmed, poor, unlettered, persecuted, tormented, done-to-death men, who, by preaching the One who had died crucified in the flesh, prevailed over the wise and powerful, because the almighty power of the Crucified was with them. That death which was once so terrible has been defeated and He who was once despised and hated is now preferred before life. These are the successes consequent upon the advent of Christ; these are the signs of His power... O Christ, O wisdom and power and Word of God, and God almighty! What should we resourceless people give you in return for all things? For all things are Yours and You ask nothing of us but that we be saved. And even this You have given us, and by Your ineffable goodness You are gracious to those who accept it. 

- John of Damascus An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, 4.4